COOKING: A TREND TOWARD 'LESS WELL DONE'

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: January 6, 1982

THE tradition in this country of eating well-done or overcooked meat, fish, poultry, game and vegetables may finally be heading for extinction. Both Oriental and French nouvelle cuisines have influenced this trend. Food has become fresher tasting and more likely to ret ain its natural juices. Rosy slices of sauteed duck breast, delic ately pink calf's liver, vegetables that are brightly crisp-tender, and moist fillets of fish are setting the standards in restaurants a nd at dinner parties.

''People are ordering their food less well done, especially on the East and West Coasts,'' said Bruce Bozzi, who owns the Palm steakhouses in several cities.

Still, many cookbooks and thermometers regularly recommend 140 degrees for rare beef and 185 degrees for lamb. At 140 degrees the beef is slightly rosy in the center, almost the far side of medium. Lamb roasted to an internal temperature of 185 degrees is what used to be called ''mystery meat'' in college dining rooms.

Recently, those guidelines have begun to change. Julia Child recommended an internal temperature of 140 degrees for ''rare'' in ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking,'' published in 1961; she advised 125 degrees not only for beef but also for lamb by 1978 in ''Julia Child and Company.'' ''The New James Beard,'' published in 1981 by Knopf, concurs.

Sometime, as the pendulum swings, the enthusiasm results in unpalatable undercooking. Unyielding carrots skid off the plate as you try to cut them; visitors returning from France complain of medium-rare chicken. At the same time, raw-food specialties, mainly Japanese-style fish preparations but also dishes made with beef and veal, have gained a passionate following.

How well done foods should be remains a highly personal question. Beyond an experienced eye or the trained thumb of a chef who can press a steak to tell if it is done - the more it cooks, the firmer it becomes - the single most useful piece of equipment for achieving desired results is the instant-read thermometer. This tiny device, small enough to test a steak sizzling on the grill and sold in most housewares stores for about $15, has a slender stem that is inserted into the center of m eat or poultry (not touch ing bone) to measure internal temperature.

Robert Posch, executive chef of the New York Restaurant School, said: ''Our students are taught that they cannot necessarily have faith in the dial on the oven or the cooking time in the recipe. But they can rely on internal temperature to judge when meat is properly cooked.''

The following guidelines are based on thermometer readings, cookbooks and interviews with restaurateurs, cooking instructors and home economists.

Beef: Until recently beef was the only meat not invariably cooked until well done. Most published instructions continue to follow the guidelines established by the National Livestock and Meat Board: 140 degrees for rare, 160 degrees for medium and 170 for well done.

''There are some objections now to that not being rare enough,'' said Gay Starrak, director of consumer services for the Meat Board. ''We find it satisfactory and safe'' (see chart).

One might regard 140 degrees as the lowest temperature to which beef should be safely cooked, but it is misleading to suggest that it will be rare. The 120-to-125-degree estimates for rare and medium rare recommended by Julia Child and James Beard are more accurate. At the Palm a @mediumrare steak has an internal temperature of 125 degrees.

Lamb: The National Livestock and Meat Board acknowledges that the 185 degrees recommended for lamb in its publications is out of date. The temperatures are being revised to agree with those for beef, starting with ''rare'' at 140 degrees.

Most cookbooks are unhelpful when it comes to lamb. The revised ''Fannie Farmer Cookbook,'' published by Knopf in 1979, suggests 140 degrees for ''pink'' lamb and 145 degrees for ''medium rare.'' Anyone who enjoys lamb truly medium rare should follow the Beard-Child suggestion of 125 degrees.

Veal: Well-done veal is still the rule, even though in some restaurants diners are asked how they would like their chops. The National Livestock and Meat Board lists 170 degrees for veal, but at 160 degrees the meat is thoroughly cooked yet still tender and juicy. For a veal chop or roast with a suggestion of pink, 145 to 150 degrees is sufficient; if you like it really rare, cook it even less.

Pork: Although the National Livestock and Meat Board advises 170 degrees for pork, charts in cookbooks showing 185 degrees are not uncommon. People tend to overcook pork because of the fear of trichinosis even though research has shown the parasite will not survive temperatures over 140 degrees. With conventional cooking methods, 160 degrees should allow a margin of safety. (When a microwave oven is used 170 degrees is recommended because time as well as temperature is a factor.)

''Our plastic pop-up timers are set to react at 170 degrees for pork,'' explained Jim McLandsborough, marketing development manager for Dun-Rite, a division of the 3M Company. ''We get calls from people who are co nvinced our timers are wrong because the meat is still moist, not dry and stringy, as they have been accustomed to it.''

Organ meats: The habit of eating well-done liver and kidneys has followed many Americans from childhood. Both are tender and far more delicately flavored when they are a rosy medium or medium rare.